The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-03-10
OPPOSING THE RAILROAD.

ST:-AS Bret Harte has ended MS
novel l thought perhaps you might
want something to help to fill q por
tion of the space it occupied in your
paper; and as a great many people
act without considering the conse-
quence l thought it would not be
amiss to say something about taxing
the people of Giles again to help to
build another railroad as was done
about 1856 or '57. Railroads are of
great advantage to many persons if
properly conducted, viz: Those
who have large quantities of freight
to import and export, and those
who wish to make long trips in
short time; and they are of great
advantage to the owners of them if
they can get the people to vote a
tax on themselves to help to pay
for them so that the roads will not
cost the future owners much. l saw
that tried in this county about 1857
when the people of Giles were taxed
to help to pay for the Nashville d
Decatur railroad (that is now so
much grumoled at for over charges
on freight). Each taxpayer was to
have his tax so arranged that he
could ride it out on the train or
convert it into stock or sell it for
what it was worth, which was from
10 to 124 cents for each dollar OF
tax paid, and many of the tax-pay-
ers were forced through necessity
to sell at these low figures and
few moneyed men soon owned most
of the stock in the road and the
poorer people had been taxed to
help to build it. Our state and
county taxes were then about 20
cents on the one hundred dollars,
and now it is about IS cents on the
hundred and the state of Tennessee
now owes about twenty millions of
dollars which ought to be paid, and
we have TO pay the interest on that,
for it is drawing interest yearly and
has to be paid till the principal is
paid and no one knows when that
will be done; and a considerable
amount of the state debt was caused
by state bonds being furnished to
assist in building railroads, so you
can see that if not directly, but in
directly, the issuing of state bonds
to assist in building railroads is the
partial cause of the states indebted
ness. do not oppose reasonable
amount of railroads being built by
those that want them and are able
to build them, but l do think (tak-
, ing into consideration our present
high tax and our large state debt }
that it would be imposing upon the
people of Giles numerically to i'm
pose a railroad tax on them llstheir
/ condition is better Let those that
have the means and want to invest
it in railroad stock get up the
stock and build roads and not ask
the people of Giles to help
them to build it, and then the
able men buy the stock at very re-
duced prices and then as soon as
they get all or most of the stock
, bought declare it worth dollar for
dollar and it is a few individuals
road instead of the peoples. You
: might say that the ax-payers ought
, not to sell at these low rates. In
, answer, l would say many of them
: are in such circumstances, particu
| larly after being so heavily taxed,
that they are obliged to sell and the
= controllers Of the road keep the
stock down until they can buy most
/ of it. think if the people of Giles
/ will think properly and calculate a
! little and investigate the past that
e they will never vote another rail-
road tax on themselves. If they
were to they would soon see thai
a the principle is not just, for while il
a might be of considerable advantage
to some it would be no advantage
/ to many. So l would repeat, lei
b those who want the roads take stock
0 in them and build them and LEI
q them be theirs, and if any of u:
Y wish to take a ride we will try tt
:. get the money up to pay for 1t az
:, we would have to do if we taxed
e ourselves to help to build them.
t could say more, but 1 think have
b said enough to convince any think
= ing and calculating Giles countiar
that it is best for railroads to b.
|. built by stock instead of taxation
C Yours Resp'ly,
8 D. K. HIGDoN, M. D.
;. (instead of Col.
= Old Ivnnyille.